Tesco employee avoids jail term for stealing phone credit to pay off former partner’s drug debt

By Isabel Hayes

A Tesco employee who stole nearly €6,000 in phone credit from the retailer has been given a one year suspended sentence.

Lee Gannon (26) was in charge of rosters and pay roll in Tesco Express in Rathmines, Dublin when he started to steal phone credit from his employer in the summer of 2018, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today.

He stole a total of €5989 in 17 transactions in July and August 2018 before discrepancies in mobile phone credit sales were noticed by an operations manager.

The transactions were tracked back to Gannon’s store code and he was then seen on CCTV ringing up the phone credit in the till before pocketing it.

Gannon of Hannaville Park, Terenure, Dublin, pleaded guilty to three sample counts of stealing from the supermarket on Upper Rathmines Road, Rathmines on dates between July 24 and August 22, 2018.

He has no previous convictions.

Garda Michael Cunningham told Siobhán Ní Chúlacháin BL, prosecuting, that Gannon was initially suspended from Tesco and then dismissed from the company.

When arrested by gardaí, Gannon said that his ex-partner – the mother of his children – had run up a drug debt and he was placed under pressure to pay off the debt.

Gda Cunningham said he believed this to be the case and that members of Gannon’s family were being used as “pawns” in order to have the debt repaid.

Luigi Rea BL, defending, said his client had €4,500 in court to give to Tesco as a token of his remorse and was willing to repay the rest owed to the supermarket.

Sentencing Gannon, Judge Martin Nolan said it was an “unfortunate” case, in which Gannon had decided to steal from his employer in order to pay off his former partner’s debt.

He noted Gannon had no previous convictions and he believed he was unlikely to reoffend.

He handed down a one-year sentence and suspended it on a number of conditions, including that Gannon pay €4500 to Tesco and pay the remainder of the money owed within 11 months.